Oregon Living 2023 – Blog #42 – Lessons Continue & Then Off On Our Boston Trip!

 

Sunday, October 1^st., 2023…… Nascar and Church! We slept in a little this morning. The weather is not so nice these days. It has been chilly in the mornings and rainy some days. Today was the same but it is supposed to clear up and we should see sunny skies and temps in the high 60s later today. Cathye went off to church and I finished up the planter box. We have shut off the sprinkler/irrigation system for the season. We want to mow at least one more time before we have to stop because of the wet grass. We had the warm sunny day they said we would but neither of us wanted to work today! It is supposed to start raining tomorrow afternoon and it will be too wet with the morning dew to mow early.  But hopefully we can mow on Tuesday before we leave for our trip. We did start on the packing and I think I got everything I need crammed into my carry on! The weather back in Massachusetts and Vermont has been pretty nice and is supposed to be warmer than here this week and next! We do have a trip up a cog train scheduled so we will probably need warmer clothes for that, but we are hoping for nice weather the rest of the time. Later in the afternoon, we changed and headed over to the 3^rd week of Cat’s beginner’s class. She is feeling a little calmer as the calls are starting to become somewhat familiar to her. But we will miss a week so she will be behind a little. We joined everyone at the pizza place afterwards and had fun with them before coming home and hitting the spa before bed.    

Monday, October 2^nd., 2023…… I couldn’t sleep right away last night (probably a sugar high from the root beer at the pizza parlor!) so I didn’t want to get up this morning. But we did. Cherrelyn will be staying here while we are gone and is coming over this morning to get any last minute questions answered, so we were up and out with the dogs and then hit the gym and then went to Kevin’s for breakfast before she got here. Cathye also had time to run over to take care of Jamie’s rent and monthly allowance before that. So, we were set for everything. Later, I watched some of my taped Barrett Jackson auction and Cat tuned in to one of her dramas as we watched the rains come in. We will go to the store again to make sure Cherrelyn has everything she needs while here. But other than that, it was a quiet day. Later, we made our Walmart run and got everything put away. I think we are almost ready for our trip!

Tuesday, October 3^rd., 2023……  We were up early and had the girls out and walked. After breakfast, we did a few loads of laundry and that helped us finish up all of our packing. We both have carry-ons and each of us has another for meds, etc. Those will stay in our bathroom until the last minute tomorrow. We are ready!

Wednesday, October 4^th., 2023……  The alarm was set for 4:30am but I was close to waking up anyway and it didn’t startle me. Showers and a walk in the dark with the dogs and we were ready. They got fed and let out for one last time. Cherrelyn will be here later in the morning. Jama needs to sleep with someone and since Cherrelyn doesn’t like dogs on her bed, Penny will be coming over to take Jama home with her. We had everything set out for her to pick up and we were off. The drive to Portland was uneventful. We left in plenty of time to be able to park out in the economy lot, shuttle in, and get through TSA. We had plenty of time to have a nice meal and a mimosa before the flight. We also got some sandwiches to help tide us over during the 6 hr. flight. The flight was also uneventful. Thanks to Cathye’s Alaska points, we upgraded to exit row seats. That really helps me with legroom! We have the same seats on the return flight too! Yaay!  We got into Logan and since we know the airport, we were able to shuttle to the car rental facility and get to National Emerald Aisle. We picked out our car (Chevy Trailblazer) and headed over to the Embassy Suites, which is right around the corner from the hotel. I wasn’t able to get a suite because they were all booked. We got a standard room which was nice and one we have been in before. We hit the bar/restaurant and had a light dinner and went back to change to go down to the spa. Once we got out, we were ready for bed after a long day!  

Thursday, October 5^th., 2023…… We were up and dressed and down to breakfast around 8:00am. I love Embassy Suites and have used them back when I was traveling for work. They are known for their breakfasts and this one is no exception. They have an omelette station so we both took advantage of that! Yummy! We went back to the room and gathered our stuff and checked out.  The plan today is to go visit the JFK Presidential Library before heading north into New Hampshire to see her family.  We didn’t make it to the library last time and Cat has never been to a presidential library before, so we put in in our agenda for today. The drive to the library took a few minutes. Boston is a big city and traffic is as bad here as it is in any major city! I was born into it so I am used to it. Cat not so much. But she did the google maps thing and got us there with no issues.  The library was very nice. I was told it was the best of all of the presidential libraries across the country. I enjoyed it but I have to be honest – it wasn’t my favorite. That goes to the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library in Springfield MO. There are others I enjoyed more as well but I won’t go into that here.

After that, I asked how far it was to Foxboro and Gillette Stadium. She said it was only a slight detour to get there and we could reroute from there without too much trouble. So, we made the 30 minute drive there. I always like to get a visual of stadiums, speedways, college campuses, etc. just to say I’ve been. I’m not a Patriots fan, but I must say, the stadium was pretty darn impressive! They have a mall on the same premises!  Once we did our drive-by, we decided to drive 33 more miles to Rhode Island. I had told Cat that there were only two states that I have never been to (Rhode Island and Connecticut). Alaska was one the list but we took care of that earlier this year! So we said, let’s go! We only stopped for lunch in RI, but hey, it counts! After that, we made the 2 ½ hr. drive to Walpole NH to Terisa and Daniel’s place. We made a quick stop along the way at a little park with a creek, one huge bike, and a building with some old barn art....

Little Felix ran out to meet us! Boy has he grown!  Mom let him open the Thomas the Train Tower we had bought and had delivered to his house. 

We spent a while putting it together but we finally got it done. He was super happy!

Later, we headed across the road, past Daniel’s parent’s house, and on to their guest house, up by the peg shop. We had been there before so we quickly got settled in. Tomorrow is a road trip!...   

Friday, October 6^th., 2023…… We set our alarm for 6:00am because we had a 2 ½ hour drive this morning. We have 11:00am tickets for the Mount Washington Cog Train, in northern New Hampshire. The train goes up to the top of the White Mountains. We stopped for Dunkin Donuts coffee and breakfast sandwiches and headed out. The drive was spectacular. The fall foliage is in its glory!  Canadians must like it here too! Boy, we sure saw plenty of cars from Quebec to ride the train and see the fall colors! We made it to the parking lot with an hour or so wait before our train. Cat bought us all sack lunches for later and we went outside to take pics and wait for our train. We were going to be on one of only 2 steam engines in use by the line (the other 5-6 are all diesel). We were in the 1^st and second rows going up and the engine pushes the train car going up, so we had a great view of the tracks and the surrounding area. We didn’t get the best of weather – it can be foggy, rainy, or even snowy at this time of year. We got the fog. But it was still a great trip. 

Hey, I saw my first bull moose (one of a few things on my bucket list)!

Oh, darn, it was not real!  But I was excited for a while!  We also saw the ‘cog frog’ (green rock)

The total train trip was close to 3 hours. Felix enjoyed it immensely – until he crashed and slept all the way down the hill!

Once we got back to the car, we drove another 45 minutes to our stop for the night., We are in the Comfort Inn and Suites in N. Conway NH. Cathye booked here because it has an indoor pool and is in a larger town with a ton of places for dinner. We had a nice swim...

Then changed and went to the 99 Diner for a really delicious meal. Then it was back to the room to relax before bed. But not before playing a little hide and seek! A long but really fun day!     

   

Saturday, October 7^th., 2023…… We all slept well and we were up and down to breakfast around 9:00am. The plan today is to drive back and get Felix back home, then go to our invited luncheon at Scott and Judy’s (Daniel’s parents) home and then a home tour. They are in a tavern home, built in 1799! Wow, talk about history! The stage stopped here as they traveled the Cheshire trail. They showed us the old serving window and the parlor where the guests would stay for a rest. They showed us the rest of the home and we saw all of the charm of an old place like this! 

Later, after resting for a bit, we changed into our costumes and headed down to pick up Terisa and Felix to go the party. Daniel and Terisa have friends (Ben and Liz) who own and run the Tree Farm Campground in Springfield NH, just a few miles north of us. They are getting ready to close the park for the season (they will have some folks stay the winter so they stay there year round). That said, they decided to do a Halloween costume party and trick or treat for the kiddos. Since the weather was iffy, they decided to hold the party under the pavilion. There were tons of kids (and adults – including us!) in costume. Felix and his mom were Ghostbusters, 

we were a pirate and his wench! They played tons of games with the kids and the (younger) adults. 

Then they had the costume contest. Since Felix was too busy playing elsewhere, he didn't get in the contest. So, I took some pics of the dogs. 

Then the adults went through.  Hey, guess what – we won best adult costume!

 

They put out all of the candy on the tables and the kids lined up & went through to choose for their bags. Cute idea!

After that, we changed and went on by ourselves to find a place to eat. We chose the Riverside Diner. It was not our first choice but the food was good, for me anyway. Cathye had a flat iron steak which was tough and fatty. I finally found a place that served liver and onions! It has been so long! It was cut-with-a-fork tender! Best meal so far! The rains came and we had to drive the rest of the way home on windy, wet and dark roads through the woods and back to the house. We made it safely and settled in for the night. There is no tv here so I worked on my blog notes while Cathye played video games on her phone. We went to bed early. Fun day!  

 

We are in New England until Wednesday, so check the next post. There's more to come….